Oxfam statement on international NGOs' senior salaries

Responding to media reports about international NGOs' senior salaries, an Oxfam spokesperson said:

"As an organisation committed to ending poverty and inequality, Oxfam is very aware that we must not allow senior pay to escalate by more than necessary to recruit and retain staff of the quality we need.

"In the financial year 2012/13, Oxfam's chief executive was paid £119,560, which is in the lower quartile of what other large charities paid for their chief executives. We believe this is fair reward for a job that involves long hours, large amounts of time away from family and overseeing a £360 million organisation that runs everything from a 700-branch national shop network to major emergency responses and long term development work to improve the lives of the poorest people on the planet. Our chief executive is also responsible for more than 5,000 staff and tens of
thousands of volunteers.

"We pay our chief executive less than other charities of similar size and scope - and considerably less than someone could expect to earn running an organisation of this size and complexity in the private sector. Our market research showed that, in the same year, the median pay of other large charity chief executives was £135,700.

"In the UK, Oxfam aims to pay around the median level for UK charities. Charity pay is significantly below private/public sector pay - typically less than 80 per cent for senior managers and under 70 per cent for board members in organisations of similar size. This suggests our chief executive could expect to earn at least £75,000 more for a comparable job in the private sector.
"Our chief executive's pay has increased in recent years because our remuneration committee judged that it was becoming uncompetitive with the rewards on offer at other similar organisations of comparable size.

"For every £1 donated to Oxfam, 84p goes directly to emergency, development and campaigning work. Just 9p is spent on running costs."